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A Primer on Artan
A Primer on the Important Places of the Fourth Empire Song's Heart - The cosmopolitan capital of the Empire, a gigantic port city at the north of Artan. Rail lines connect Song's Heart with every other province in the Empire, acting to transport people and goods across Artan. Song's Heart was established originally around the ancient and long-standing Cathedral of the Song, and the monastery of the Song attached to it. Paladins, monks, and clerics of the Song have been trained here since the Second Empire. The Fourth Empire - An Empire that comprises the nations and kingdoms of Artan, which are known as provinces. The Empire doesn't really take a direct hand in the day to day activities of each province - each province rules itself and functions much as it did before the Empire -- with a few exceptions. There are several Imperial Laws that each Province must adhere to -- No wars among themselves, no slavery, no industrial necromancy. Provinces of the Fourth Empire Verendra - A fertile plainsland south of Song's Heart, it is, for the most part, the breadbasket of the Empire, dominated by farmland. It is dotted with villages, and its capital is the rural city of Tallin. The Jeweled Cities - South across the Empire from Song's Heart, nestled in the mountains that make up the southern end of Artan, are the Jeweled Cities, a collection of city states originally formed from mining colonies established during the Second Empire. The largest of these cities, Diamond, acts as a kind of capital, at least as far as the Empire is concerned, though in truth, the masters of the Jeweled Cities are constantly vying and competing for economic and political dominance of the area. Erelayn - Southwest from Verendra and acting as a gateway to the expansive Erenil Forest that dominates most of the western part of Artan, Erelayn is a predominantly elven province that has been a part of all four Empires. It's said that the elves of Artan had their origins in the fey that even now dominate the Erenil Forest. The capital of the province is the great elven city Arlayn. Rannon - At the very center of Artan is the mostly human-dominated province of Rannon, and at the center of the province, the ancient city of Thren, formerly the center and capital of the Second and Third Empires. There are many in Thren that have taken great exception to the Empress establishing the center of her Empire in Song's Heart, and who campaign day and night to have her return to 'tradition' -- namely, making a 'proper' capital in Thren. Rannon's politics are dominated by a seemingly endlessly complex web of noble titles and hereditary/non-hereditary claims on ancient lands and positions of power, affectionately called 'The Perpetual Revolution'. Rannon is practically it's own mini-empire, one constantly at flux thanks to the Perpetual Revolution. Misrule - at the eastern edge of the Empire, the province of Misrule acts as a buffer between the settled lands of Artan and the magically charged, chaotic wasteland known as the Unfinished Lands. Misrule, of course, isn't its original name. Originally, the province was called Castalaine, and it was the center of magic of the Second Empire, until the cataclysm that shattered it -- both the province, and the Second Empire. The Third Empire ignored the former province entirely, considering the former province just part of the Unfinished Lands, despite the survivors that clung to their lands -- the Scarred, humanoids mutated by the magic of the cataclysm, and the Meks, living mechanized constructs that arose after Castalaine's destruction. During the extradimensional invasion that united the Fourth Empire, the Empress recognized the Meks and Scarred's contributions in sealing the rifts, and made the former Castalaine a province once again. The residents renamed their province Misrule, embracing a nickname for the territory that had become widespread during the Third Empire. The capital of Misrule is Sheor, one of the few cities remaining after the cataclysm. The chief export of Misrule is the Misrulian Glass, harvested from the deserts of the wasteland. Magical storms are common, especially on the border with the Unfinished Lands, and discharges of energy from these storms strike the sand, fusing into a clear quartz-like material. Scarred and Meks harvest and refine this substance further into glass, using techniques kept secret to ensure their monopoly on the glass, and to ensure Misrule's place in the Empire. The Other Kingdoms Song's Heart sits on the northernmost coast of Artan. Across the Kaskar Ocean, an ocean that is not as wide as it is unusually deep, lies the rest of the world -- friends, allies, trading partners, and potential enemies. The Dragon Isles - An archipelago ruled by a multicolored council of metallic and chromatic dragon merchant princes, the Dragon Isles is an important trading hub. Raralang - A kingdom of dragonborn not far from the Dragon Isles, and a longtime ally of Artan and its Empires. Most of the dragonborn on Artan can trace their lineages back to Raralang. Exonara - A magocratic kingdom that occupies a series of floating islands hovering over the gigantic Wraithbone Reef. They are largely reclusive, though they do engage in trade with Artan for the magically valuable Misrulian Glass. Elsewhere? The Wonder Weir- Somewhere on one of the two moons orbiting Artan's world, give or take a few dimensional gradients, sits the celestial outpost of Wonder Weir, placed there at the fall of the Second Empire by the gods. Wonder Weir is a heavenly garrison, a city populated by a gamut of celestial beings serving gods from Bahamut to Kord to protect this world and police its fragile dimensional barriers. The Yugoloth invasion that preceded the Fourth Empire only happened because they attacked Wonder Weir first, tricking the forces of the Blood War into invading the city and distracting them from their machinations long enough to get a foothold in Artan. Wonder Weir is led by the legendary General Glory, an angel of great power and valor.